Cloudera

Role: Software Engineer

College: Not Specified

Interview Date: Not Specified (experience posted July 23, 2025)

Interview Type: On-Campus, Full-Time (FTE + 6-month internship)

Result: Not Specified

Difficulty: Not Specified

Rounds: 4 rounds

Topics Asked: Data Structures, Algorithms, DBMS, Computer Networks, Microservices, Resume-based questions.

Experience:

Cloudera visited the candidate's college offering an FTE plus a 6-month internship. The eligibility criteria included a CGPA of 7.5 and above. There were 4 rounds in total.

Round 1: Online Test
This round consisted of 3 coding questions and 1 question on DBMS.

• Minimum cost to make strings equal: Given two strings s1 and s2, return the minimum cost to make them equal. Cost is defined as 5 per deletion step.
• Reformat text in two columns: Design an algorithm to read lines of text, reformat it into two columns (each 40 characters wide, separated by a 4-space gap), with the first column corresponding to the first half of the input and the second to the second half. Each output line should print the maximum number of words that occupy less than or equal to 'n' characters, without breaking words across lines. Each output page should contain 'm' lines, with 4 consecutive blank lines indicating a new page.
• Maximum Salary: Given pieces of paper with single numbers, compose the largest number by concatenating them in the appropriate sequence.
• DBMS: Total profit made by managers in a shop, considering purchase histories stored in 2 tables.

Round 2: Technical Virtual Interview
The candidate was given a code pair link and asked to solve 2 problems. After coding, a few basic questions on data structures were asked.

Round 3: Technical Virtual Interview
Another code pair link was provided for 1 problem. The interviewer noted that faster solutions would earn more points. The candidate provided an approach within 5-10 minutes, which impressed the interviewer, then coded, dry-ran, and covered all edge cases.

Round 4: Virtual HM Round (Hiring Manager)
This round was described as an in-depth technical discussion about computer networks and microservices. The interviewer asked for an introduction and a brief explanation of resume projects. Significant interest was shown in the candidate's summer internship project, leading to questions combining it with computer networks.

• What is a microservice?
• Given a URL, how does an API Gateway redirect it to the destination?
• How exactly is the routing done in microservices?